Biography

The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. It's difficult to believe that prior to her emergence, jazz and pop singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley tradition and rarely personalized their songs; only blues singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey gave the impression they had lived through what they were singing. Holiday revolutionized traditional pop, ripping the decades-long tradition of song plugging in two by refusing to compromise her artistry. She made clear her debts to Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, but in truth her style was virtually her own. ~ John Bush

Top Tracks

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• A Fine Romance

• A Sailboat In The Moonlight

• Ain't Misbehavin'

• All Of Me

• All Or Nothing At All

• All The Way

• All Too Soon

• Am I Blue?

• April In My Heart

• As Time Goes By

• A-tisket, A-tasket

• Autumn In New York

• Baby Get Lost

• Baby Won't You Please Come Home

• Back In Your Own Backyard

• Billie's Blues

• Black Coffee

• Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair

• Blue Moon

• Body And Soul

• Budella

• Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man

• Come Rain Or Come Shine

• Corcovado (quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)

• Crazy He Calls Me

• Day In, Day Out

• 'deed I Do

• Detour Ahead

• Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

• Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

• Don't Explain

• Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

• East Of The Sun (and West Of The Moon)

• Easy Living

• Easy To Love

• Embraceable You

• Everything Happens To Me

• Everything I Have Is Yours

• Fine And Mellow

• Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You?

• Georgia On My Mind

• Getting Some Fun Out Of Life

• Gimme A Pigfoot (and A Bottle Of Beer)

• Gloomy Sunday

• God Bless The Child

• Good Morning Heartache

• Goodnight My Love

• He's Funny That Way

• Hey! Lady's Here

• How Am I To Know?

• How High The Moon

• I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

• I Can't Get Started

• I Can't Give You Anything But Love

• I Cover The Waterfront

• I Cried For You

• I Didn't Know What Time It Was

• I Get A Kick Out Of You

• I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues

• I Loves You, Porgy

• I Must Have That Man

• I Only Have Eyes For You

• I Wish You Love

• I Wished On The Moon

• I'll Be Seeing You

• I'll Get By

• I'll Get By (as Long As I Have You)

• I'll Never Be The Same

• Ill Wind

• I'm A Fool To Want You

• I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (and Throw Away The Key)

• I'm In The Mood For Love

• It's A Sin To Tell A Lie

• It's Too Hot For Words

• I've Got A Date With A Dream

• I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

• Jeepers Creepers

• Just Friends

• Just One Of Those Things

• Keeps On A-rainin'

• Lady Day Speaks: Early History

• Lady Sings The Blues

• Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

• Let's Do It (let's Fall In Love)

• Let's Dream In The Moonlight

• Life Begins When You're In Love

• Long Gone Blues

• Lost My Man Blues

• Love For Sale

• Love Me Or Leave Me

• Loveless Love

• Lover Come Back To Me

• Lover Man

• Lover Man (oh Where Can You Be)

• Lover Man (oh, Where Can You Be)

• Lover Man (oh, Where Can You Be?)

• Lover, Come Back To Me

• Mack The Knife

• Mean To Me

• Miss Brown To You

• Moanin' Low

• Moonglow

• Moonlight In Vermont

• More Than You Know

• My Favorite Things

• My First Impression Of You

• My Last Affair

• My Man

• My Old Flame

• My Yiddishe Mama

• Nice Work If You Can Get It

• Night And Day

• Now They Call It Swing

• Oh, Lady Be Good

• On The Sentimental Side

• One For My Baby (and One More For The Road)

• One Never Knows, Does One?

• Pennies From Heaven

• Prelude To A Kiss

• Riffin' The Scotch

• Romance In The Dark

• Sentimental And Melancholy

• Solitude

• Sometimes I'm Happy

• Speak Low

• St. Louis Blues

• Stars Fell On Alabama

• Stormy Blues

• Stormy Weather

• Strange Fruit

• Summertime

• 'tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do

• Take Me To The Water

• Tenderly

• The Man I Love

• The Very Thought Of You

• The Way You Look Tonight

• Them There Eyes

• These Foolish Things

• They Can't Take That Away From Me

• This Year's Kisses

• Time On My Hands

• Too Marvelous For Words

• Trav'lin Light

• Trav'lin' Light

• Twenty-four Hours A Day

• What A Diff'rence A Day Made

• What A Little Moonlight Can Do

• What Is This Thing Called Love

• What Is This Thing Called Love?

• What's New?

• When Your Lover Has Gone

• When You're Smiling

• Who Wants Love?

• Why Was I Born?

• Wild Is The Wind

• Willow Weep For Me

• Yesterdays

• You Don't Know What Love Is

• You Go To My Head

• You Showed Me The Way

• You Took Advantage Of Me

• You're Too Lovely To Last

• You've Changed

Discography

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• Stay with Me

  Verve

  1959

• Jazz Recital

  Clef Records

  1956

• Velvet Moods

  Clef Records

  1956

• A Recital by Billie Holiday

  Clef Records

  1956

• Music for Torching

  Clef Records

  1955

• Billie Holiday, Vol. 3

  Jolly Roger Records

  1954

• Billie Holiday, Vol. 2

  1950